The invention is an improvement on an automatic loom filling winder of the class disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,638,936 to Goodhue et al., issued May 19, 1953. The advantages of such an automatic loom filling winder are recognized in the art and a widely used commercial loom filling winder is manufactured and sold by Leesona Corporation of Warwick, R.I. under the registered mark "UNIFIL".
More particularly, the invention is concerned with the repair of a critical and rather costly component of the loom filling winder which frequently breaks during loom operation, because it is subjected to repetitive hard pounding each time a quill is transferred by a transfer hammer from the loom winder into the shuttle. The tip of each quill being transferred rides through a magazine tip guide on which is rockably mounted a quill tip support. An extension or arm of the quill tip support moves within a slot near the bottom of the magazine tip guide, and the quill transfer operation causes the extension or arm to strike the bottom of the slot rapidly and repeatedly. Frequently, a lower section of the magazine tip guide at the end of this slot will fracture and break away from the wall of the tip guide rendering the latter useless.
It has been customary to replace the entire magazine tip guide, which is a comparatively expensive part. It is also time consuming and requires substantial skill to refit a new magazine tip guide on the automatic loom winder.
The present invention deals with this troublesome and somewhat costly problem in the art in an extremely simple and economical manner, which completely avoids the necessity for replacing and refitting a broken magazine tip guide and allows the same to continue in service with a simple one-piece repair part installed thereon in such a way that the repair part is held in place solely by existing elements on the magazine tip guide without interfering in the slightest manner with the normal functioning of these elements or the normal functioning of the entire magazine tip guide during the quill transfer operation. The simple replacement part can be installed in minimum time by a comparatively unskilled mechanic and, once installed, the damaged magazine tip guide is instantly restored to full utility without adjustment, and in fact, following the repair, is stronger than ever. The repair part does not have to be attached to the tip guide with threaded fasteners, rivets or by welding and no drilling or other cutting of the metal of the magazine tip guide is necessary. The replacement or repair element is of simple plate-like formation and is simply suspended from an existing pivot shaft for the quill tip support on the magazine tip guide. The repair part is contoured to engage a wall of the magazine tip guide in such a way that the part cannot be displaced from its working position once it is installed. The repair part contains a slot for the arm or extension of the quill tip support and serves the same function as the original slot of the magazine tip guide which has been broken away by constant pounding of the quill tip support.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.